Rookie leadership blunders that will sink you

Building and growing a thriving and successful company takes far more than just a good idea and some capital. It takes management abilities and a sense for leadership that far too many don’t have or don’t take the time to properly develop. There are so many rookie leadership mistakes just waiting to happen that it might seem like everyday in business is minefield that could destroy everything at any time. Fortunately, many of these mistakes can be avoided.

• The most important thing is to know yourself, especially with regard to those areas in which you are weak. Great leaders know themselves and know where to look for examples and mentors. They know that arrogance has no place for the arrogant tend to miss much and will sink a businesses quicker than the blink of an eye. Being open minded is the key.
• Businesses that fail in the long run tend to not view employee training as a continuous and evolving process. The failures think that they can take a new employee and teach them the job for two weeks and then never follow up with either more training or with support. The true leader builds a wining team because he knows the growth and success of the business depends on the quality of the people.
• As a preamble to that, the failures tend to fill positions as quickly as possible without taking the time to truly evaluate the candidates and choosing the best fit for the job and the culture. This always comes back to haunt and real leaders are always looking for the best players and take the time to find them. It may take a bit longer but long term success can be nearly guaranteed.
• A real leader knows how to delegate. He or she knows their people and knows that allowing them to tackle difficult projects is the key to growth both for them and for the company. You are not part of any team. You are the leader who can take a project and see it smoothly to completion knowing how to get all of the people working on the project to use their strengths and to flow together.
• Finally, a real leader plans or the future of the company. They know that many top people at companies end up going to the competition because they could not get the compensation and promotions they earned and deserved. The companies that go down quickly are not led by people of vision. They allow their best people to escape when it could well have been avoided.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer